Montgomery County Commissioners visit Arcadia University

Montgomery County Board of Commissioners Chairman Josh Shapiro and Vice Chairwoman Leslie Richards talk with residents about what they expect from the county in 2013. Photo by Jarreau Freeman/Journal Register News Service.

GLENSIDE — It’s not every day that residents can have a face-to-face conversation with their county commissioners, but the new administration seems to want to change that.

During a casual conversation in the Arcadia University castle in Glenside, locals gathered to receive a county update and pose questions to Montgomery Board of Commissioners Chairman Josh Shapiro and Vice Chairwoman Leslie Richards Feb. 4.

The meeting was the third in a series of conversations the commissioners will host with constituents throughout the county to inform them of what they can expect from the county this year. Previous meetings took place in Lansdale and Ardmore.

Although Commissioner Bruce Castor Jr., the third member of the board, was absent due to a prior commitment, Shapiro and Richards proceeded to outline some of the main issues the board has tackled since it came to office 13 months ago.

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One of the major problems the board faced was balancing a $420 million budget with a structural budget deficit of $49.3 million, Shapiro said.

To construct a budget for 2013, Shapiro said they used a zero-based budget approach.

“You have to have an approach that asks the fundamental questions of what, how and why,” he said. “We asked department leaders to meet with us with a blank sheet of paper and say what the core missions of their department would be. Upon defining that core mission … we were able to back our way into a figure that properly funded the core mission of county government.”

The budget was balanced without raising taxes, issuing any mass layoffs or programs cuts, he said.

With the budget secured, Shapiro said that 2013 will also be the year the county “revolutionizes the way they do human services.” In weeks to come, the county will jump-start a community connections program that will distribute advocates throughout the region for residents to talk with and learn about the opportunities that can benefit their families, he said.

“They will be your navigator through the system and your advocate in the system,” he said. “You won’t have to be bounced around to 10 different people in order to get the help you need.”

In addition to implanting helpful services from Norristown directly into communities, the county commissioners are working to keep people safe. The commissioners recently approved an upgrade to the county emergency radio system. The upgrade was initially estimated to cost $120 million but the final cost was reduced to $29.9 million.

“We saved the taxpayers a bundle and gave our first responders the best possible devices they can use to communicate,” he said.

With more than 120 bridges and miles of roadways in the county needing repair, Shapiro said that investing in infrastructure will be critical in 2013.

“Many of our public property, roads, bridges and parks were not maintained properly,” Richards said. “As many of you know, it’s not sexy to maintain things that you have. It’s usually sexier to buy new things. We have to take care of what we have and that’s really what we are going to do.”

The county is reaching out to local municipalities, and where it makes sense, will repair structures and relinquish ownership to local municipalities.

“They will take ownership of a brand new piece of infrastructure,” she said. “If the municipalities do the maintenance as it should be done … the bridges and roads will be in great shape for years to come.”

In addition, Richards outlined how the county will help with economic development like supporting local businesses, providing job training and assisting those who are unemployed or underemployed.

The county is also collaborating with municipalities and watershed groups regarding flood issues and is working to improve the county transportation system through grants, she said.

The county will also continue to take initiative regarding the Voter ID law and will work to ensure every registered voter in the county gets to vote, she said.

Abington resident Lora Lehmann asked the commissioners to consider how lost green space is linked to flooding.

“Our administration is working hard to preserve and protect open space,” Shapiro said. “But if you preserve open space, it’s not as though you automatically solve your flooding issues. You have to deal with them on parallel tracks. At the same time, we are bringing municipalities together to storm water .”

Others, like Cheltenham resident Charles Patterson, raised concerns about the Greenwood Avenue bridge construction and wanted to know what the county was doing to expedite the project.

“What we can do best is advocate on behalf of municipalities to PennDOT, because it’s a PennDOT project,” said Richards. “It’s not a county bridge so we don’t have control over this project. But we will be able to give you regular updates. We do realize the impact that it has on residences and businesses. Anything we can do to relieve those impacts and help out, we want to do.”

Some, like local Tom Collins, wanted to know if the county sees supporting Montgomery County Community College as a priority even though it experienced a 25 percent cut in the county budget.

“As a result of the cut we were forced to make, as a result of the fiscal mess we inherited, tuition went up $6 per credit hour, per student,” Shapiro said. “Going forward we remain committed to meeting our obligations to the community college. The college is an extraordinary asset to the community and we want to make sure students have access to it.”